


Similarities Attract

by Mosspool13



Series: WidoFjord Week 2019 [5]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, M/M, Pre-Slash, Widofjord Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-15 10:12:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19293631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mosspool13/pseuds/Mosspool13
Summary: They say opposites attract. That shy creatures bask in the light of an open grin, or that wilting flowers preen in the presence of a youth in bloom. Or that the day cannot be without the night, or that sea is nothing without the land.That fire is only as strong as its watery counterpart.Fjord doesn't think he and Caleb are opposites. They are far too similar to be that, but he thinks there might be something about their similarities that makes their relationship what it is.





	Similarities Attract

**Author's Note:**

> For WidoFjord (Fjordgast) Week: Day 5: Dreams/Nightmares, Fire and Water

They say opposites attract. That shy creatures bask in the light of an open grin, or that wilting flowers preen in the presence of a youth in bloom. Or that the day cannot be without the night, or that sea is nothing without the land. 

That fire is only as strong as its watery counterpart. 

Fjord doesn't think he and Caleb are opposites. They are far too similar to be that, but he thinks there might be something about their similarities that makes their relationship what it is. 

 

**i. Meeting**

It hadn't been a remarkable meeting by any stretch of the imagination. Fjord had been wandering the streets, hand in his pocket, eyes searching the crowd as he cataloged faces, listened to voices, and slowly begun to adopt the attributes that make up these people. When he'd turned the corner, he'd slipped into a lope of a walk, heavy steps, skin shifting from green to bronze, hair becoming lighter, clothes baggier. Once he was disguised, he became a part of that civilization, wandering among the people, blended in.

Finding Caleb among the crowd was easy. 

He was dressed unassumingly, of course, dark robes, hood over the head, shoulders hunched. He had looked too much like a person trying to hide. It was this that made Fjord notice him, and it was also this that made the Crownsguard grab his wrist accusingly. 

"Where do yah think you're going, huh?" The guard said, pulling Caleb out of the crowd and out in the open. 

"Let me go, please. I have not done anything." Caleb had pleaded, his accent thick, and Fjord had not heard anything like it at the time.

"Let me get a look at yah. We've been tryin' ta find a thief that's been messin' about our markets." Fjord watched with interest as the Crownsguard flipped off Caleb's hood and drew closer to inspect Caleb's face. 

Fjord could see him now, red hair, shaggy, dirt across the nose, pale with the brightest blue eyes he'd ever seen. He was frightened but a little defiant too. It was the tenseness of his jaw that made Fjord step out of his cover and approach with a disarming smile. 

"Ah, Samuel!" Fjord said, with a half-laugh, slipping into a perfect mimicry of the accent Caleb had used. The Crownsguard and Caleb had both looked at him, surprised and wary both in the set of their faces. "Thank you, kind sir, my brother had run off from me and I'd lost him in the crowd." He gently takes a hold of Caleb's shoulder and moves him out of the Crownsguard's grip. The Crownsguard lets Caleb go, too surprised to hold any tighter and Caleb goes with Fjord, gently rubbing his wrist. "Oh, is there a problem, officer?" Fjord asks, smiling in apparent confusion. 

"No, just thought this man was a thief we'd been lookin' fer." He said, a slur in his words. Fjord could smell the bit of ale on the man's breath. _Getting into the cups a little early, then,_ Fjord thought, with an inward grimace. 

"Ah, my brother does have a resembling face. But I can assure you that my brother is no thief, and naught am I." Fjord leaned in close, so only the Crownsguard could hear. "I would also advise not drinking on the job, sir. Could lead you to make serious mistakes, like arresting the wrong man." 

The Crownsguard bowed awkwardly, leaning away from Fjord. "Apologies, gentlemen." And walked briskly away. 

Fjord grinned and turned to Caleb, dropping the accent. "You alright?" 

Caleb was staring at him, still rubbing his wrist, with something complicated in his face, wary and disbelieving and suspicious both. "Why would you help me?" 

Fjord had shrugged then. "Not really sure, just felt like there was something about you worth helping." 

Caleb's face had changed then, gone pained and sad and very, very lonely, and he'd muttered at the ground. "There is nothing about me worth saving." Before he'd turned and walked briskly back into the crowd. He'd done a better job of disappearing that time, to Fjord's chagrin. 

He didn't learn Caleb's name until later that night, when Caleb had saved him and returned the favor. 

Fjord hadn't been disguised this time, and that was his mistake, because a group of humans had noticed him, wandering by himself in the evening, when it was getting almost too dark to be out, and had gone after him for his skin and heritage (despite not having the tusks for them to target, they'd found plenty to spit slurs at). They had taken stones and were chucking them at his head, and Fjord dodged as best he could, but he wasn't fast enough for one and his cheek sliced open from the sharp edge of the stone. He reached to cup his face, the sharp sting of pain blinding him for a moment while the humans laughed, until they abruptly quieted. When Fjord looked up, the boys were scampering away into the distance and Caleb had been walking towards him, shoving bandaged hand into his dusty coat. 

"Thanks." Fjord said, wiping the blood off his cheek and gritting his teeth. "But, why would you help me?" 

Caleb blinked at him, and then recognition spread across his face. His mouth ticked up on the side. "There was something about you worth saving." He said. 

They hadn't agreed in so many words that they would start to travel together, but Caleb had offered to heal his cut and had brought Fjord to his room in the inn, which coincidentally was the same inn Fjord was staying at. It had seemed prudent then, that they exchange names, after saving each other. 

That was how Fjord met Caleb Widogast. 

 

**ii. Loneliness**

Fjord is hard to read most days, but easier to read on others. Today is one of those days. His expression is open, wistful, as he gazes out at the ocean, eyes tracking the horizon. Caleb can see his fingers twitch, as if he will reach out and cup the whole of the ocean in his hand and drink from it. Like it is a salvation.

They are standing on a hillside, resting for the night, and across the horizon is the dappled edge of seawater. Caleb has not been to the ocean, only seen it from afar, like now, and it is glistening and wide. 

"Were you a sailor?" Caleb ask, without really thinking about it. He winces when Fjord's piercing, yellow eyes move swiftly to look at him. Caleb had been careful not to ask questions, for fear of having Fjord ask some in return. It is better to keep their traveling arrangement just that, an arrangement, rather than develop it into something like friendship. Trust Fjord he does, with talking and charming and taking center stage, but with Caleb's past and his secrets? Not at all. 

Fjord would likely wish to hand him over to the nearest Crownsguard should he learn what Caleb has done in his past. 

"How could you tell?" Fjord asks, with a chuckle. 

Caleb nods his head to the ocean. "You were staring at it... wistfully, I believe." 

Fjord shrugs and looks away. "Yeah. It feels like a lifetime ago, but yeah, I was."

Caleb hums and lets the conversation end, too afraid to ask any more of the burning questions he has for this half-orc with the ability to change his voice and face with a subtle head turn. Caleb has quietly kept his own magic a secret, eyeing up the little displays Fjord produces in his everyday life, the way he changes appearances like a drop of the hat, as though uncomfortable in his natural skin. Caleb is curious to know what it is that makes him use his magic so freely, but refrains. Again, he fears having questions turned on him, for his reticence, or for his curiosity. 

Fjord breathes out through his nose and then, unprompted, admits, "I didn't leave the sea of my own volition. I'm actually tryin' to reach a place. To learn about--" He glances at Caleb and then motions to his body, shifting his form to that of an older gentleman, gray hair and dark skin, and then back to himself. "this. My magic." 

Caleb's eyebrow lifts. "You are new to magic?" 

Fjord nods. "Never had a lick of magic in my bones until I suddenly could do this. And, well," Fjord hesitates and then seems to shake himself into action. He reaches out his hand, palm open, and then suddenly a blade shimmers into existence, water sliding off its golden edge, barnacles and seaweed curling up its handle and just grazing Fjord's fingers. Caleb leans away, stunned. 

Fjord slowly moves the blade through the air, twisting it around so Caleb can get a good look, before he flicks his wrist and the blade slides out of existence, as if it had never been there in the first place. 

"You can summon a blade from a pocket dimension." Caleb breathes and then bites his tongue when Fjord glances at him curiously. 

"You know a bit about magic?" He asks, leaning forward, his eyes intense.

Caleb can feel the tension creeping into his shoulders. "I know magic,  _ja_." He admits. 

"You could teach me then?" Fjord says, pleads really. "About... this and about my blade?" 

Caleb scrunches up further into himself. "I am afraid I do not have the expertise that you are looking for." 

Fjord blinks and leans away. "What do ya mean?" 

Caleb sighs and gently pulls out one of his spell books. _It would have come to light eventually_ , he thinks. "I have magic,  _ja_ , but it came from study." He pats his tome's cover. "Years of study. I can make my appearance different as you can but--making swords appear out of the ether is not a skill I possess." 

Fjord deflates, as though the excitement and energy is expelled from him with a single sigh. "Oh. So you can't help me?" 

"I am afraid not, no." 

Fjord sighs and stretches out his long limbs, rubbing his elbows and rolling out his shoulders. "Suppose I should head for this academy then, after all." 

Caleb looks up. "Academy?" He feels a shiver run down his side. "You do not mean Soltryce Academy--"

Fjord glances at him over his shoulder. "You heard of it?" He grins, pleased. "I was actually makin' my way there when I stopped in that village and met y--"

"If you are heading to Soltryce then I am afraid we will have to part ways here." Caleb interrupts in a rush, standing up and collecting his things. Fjord rises too, brow furrowed and movements slow, as though he doesn't want to spook a frightened animal. Caleb would be annoyed if his blood wasn't thumping so loudly in his ears. 

"Whoa, hold on there, Caleb. What are ya talkin' about?" His smile pulls at the corners, tight but still somehow charming. Disarming. 

"Soltryce is a good school. The best, for magic users, and you will learn a lot if you go there, but my destination requires me to be elsewhere and it is more important than a jaunt to the lap of the Empire." Caleb bites out, harsh and when he looks up, Fjord is frowning deeply. 

"You have a problem with the Empire, then?" 

Caleb covers his mouth with the back of his hand. He has said too much already. He is not used to company and he has already spoken a great deal more than he had ever meant to. "No." He corrects. "I just have things I must do elsewhere." 

He doesn't wait for Fjord's response. He gathers the rest of his things, secures his tomes in his holsters and strides away from the half-orc. 

He cannot get caught up with Ikithon and his ilk again. He does hope that Fjord, if he chooses to continue to Soltryce, never encounters Trent Ikithon, but Caleb himself cannot risk going to the Academy. Not if he wishes to survive the days to come. 

Caleb doesn't get far before Fjord grabs his wrist and halts him. Caleb would wrench his arm free but instead he lets Fjord turn him around to face him. Despite himself, Caleb has become used to Fjord's company these last few days, and he is loathe to return to his days of solitude. 

"Wait, Caleb. We don't have to go to Soltryce, I'm sure there are other means to learnin' about my powers. You could even tell me a bit about your magic and we could try and see if there is anythin' similar from there." Fjord says, something low and almost desperate in his voice. Caleb looks at him, at the way he is tightly holding his wrist, and realizes that Fjord is afraid too. Of being alone. 

" _ja_ , I can try." Caleb says, turning fully around and sighing. Fjord's face lights up, making his handsome features even more striking in the daylight. Caleb sighs again. Fjord is generally very hide to read, but right now, his pleasure and relief is very easy to see. 

 

**iii. Vulnerability**

Fjord learned quickly that Caleb had issues with fire. 

Despite his frequent use of it, Caleb would sometimes get quiet after a fight they were unable to avoid, when an enemy went down in flames to Caleb's quick use of a simple fire spell, his eyes would get glassy and his gaze far away. It would take Fjord shaking him to get him back to himself. He'd be incredibly standoffish when this happened, refusing to explain or to talk about it. Fjord understood this to some level. He kept his secrets close to his chest, and Caleb did too. Fjord still hadn't told Caleb about the shipwreck, about the real origin of his falchion, waking up on the beach with it beside him in the sand.  

He finds Caleb that night, tending the fire of their camp, eyes staring into the flames, faraway, but not glassy like after a fight. Fjord feels safe enough to sit down next to him and lean on his knees. 

"You feelin' okay?" He asks, and Caleb hums, stoking the flames with a stick. 

"I am fine, Fjord." He says. 

"You gave me a bit of scare this last time though, Caleb. Had to drag you out of there." They'd barely escaped getting riddled in with arrows. Fjord had quickly grabbed Caleb and ran for it after the wizard had gone still and elsewhere. 

Caleb hunches in on himself. "I apologize. That will not happen again." 

Fjord raises an eyebrow. "Can you promise that? 'Cause every time you use your fire magic you go catatonic." 

Caleb twitches and then curls further in on himself. "My past is... checkered with flame." He says, after a beat of silence. Fjord unconsciously leans forward. Getting any little bit information out of Caleb is like pulling teeth. He shares very little about himself, and what he does share is always a struggle to get from him. 

Fjord waits for him to elaborate, but he does not. Tentatively, Fjord rests his hand on Caleb's shoulder, and squeezes delicately. "If you ever feel like you want to share." He says. "I'm here, if you do. To listen, or whatever you need."

Caleb glances at him, swallows, and then nods. He rises then, moving away from Fjord and disappears into their makeshift tent, a small structure cobbled together with sticks and wood and stones found around the area, and a tarp Fjord had kept on him when he'd been sleeping on his own. 

Fjord stays where he is, staring at the fire Caleb had created, and doesn't notice when Caleb returns, startles even, when Caleb sits back down next to him, his tome in hand. 

"Sorry." Caleb says, shifting awkwardly. He opens the tome, flipping through a few pages. "I thought that perhaps we could..." He pauses. "read together?"

"That would be nice." Fjord breathes, and waits. Caleb nods and scoots closer until their shoulders knock together. It is the closest they have ever been to each other, and Fjord can feel his heart beating a little faster for no reason at all. 

Caleb presses his fingertip to the words, the firelight spreading across the page and illuminating it just enough that Caleb's human eyes can see. "Here is the spell  _Dancing Lights_ ," Caleb begins, and Fjord lets his voice soothe him as they read together into the night.  

 

**iV. Dreams**

Caleb eyes snap open to the sound of choking. He sits up abruptly, disoriented and reaching for his spell components. "Fjord?" He calls, fear lacing up his spine, and when he turns to the bit of bedding beside him in their tent where Fjord had fallen asleep, he can see Fjord hunched over himself, shoulders shaking, as he coughs, hacking, body trembling. 

Caleb reaches over and touches Fjord's back. He can feel the shivers of each shaky exhale and choking cough expel from Fjord's body. "Are you alright?" 

"F-fine." Fjord manages, before he coughs again. 

Caleb doesn't believe him. He conjures his lights, letting them fill the space around his head and rises from his blankets. He circles Fjord until he can just make out his eyes in the dark. Fjord is covering his mouth, water spilling from his fingers as he coughs again. Caleb watches as Fjord wipes at his mouth and his hand comes away drenched in water. "Fjord, what--"

"Sorry." Fjord breathes, throat raspy. "Just got a little thirsty and the water went down the wrong way. Didn't mean to wake you." Fjord smiles up at him, pleasant and disarming and Caleb frowns. They have spent enough months together now that Caleb can discern when Fjord is putting on an act. This, this is an act.  

"I do not know why you are lying to me." Caleb tells him. "But you told me that I could come to you with my problems, and I extend that offer to you as well." He sits down across from Fjord. He has yet to take Fjord up on his offer, he is still fearful that any inkling Fjord gets of Caleb's past will secure Caleb's damnation in the eyes of the Empire--that Fjord will turn on him and turn him in, or worse. That Fjord will abandon him instead to his own devices, look at him with disdain. Caleb could not handle that, not now that he has allowed himself this close to someone. 

It is too late for Caleb to turn his back on Fjord without a heavy heart. 

Watching the way Fjord is hiding behind his hands, Caleb wonders if perhaps he should give Fjord something to help him through the night.

He hasn't introduced Frumpkin to Fjord yet, perhaps now would be a good time. 

Caleb snaps his fingers, and Frumpkin pops into existence, startling Fjord who flinches and then proceeds to sneeze, rather loudly. 

"Ah," Caleb blinks. "You are allergic to cats?" 

Fjord wipes at his nose. "Yeah, sorry." 

"I can change him into something else if you prefer." Caleb says. He could, but then he would be unable to turn Frumpkin back into a cat. 

But if it will help Fjord... 

"You can turn your cat into other stuff?" Fjord says, confused and still sniffling and Caleb nods. 

" _Ja_ , he is my familiar. I can change him into any animal so long as I have the incense to do it." 

"That's amazing, Caleb." Fjord praises and Caleb can feel his face heat up a bit at the bald way that Fjord looks at him. Fjord reaches out a hand and gently presses two fingers to Frumpkin's head. Frumpkin _mrrphs_ and leans into the touch. 

"There are other things my cat is useful for." Caleb tells him, watching the way Frumpkin curls up in Fjord's lap and the way that Fjord gently begins to scratch under Frumpkin's chin. Caleb adds, pointedly. "But he is good with nightmares and dreams. He has soothed many a night for me."

Fjord doesn't say anything, and Caleb thinks that will be the end of that. He begins to stand, to return to his bed, but Fjord reaches out and gently touches Caleb's ankle. Caleb pauses. "Thanks." Fjord says, not looking at him. 

"You need only ask, and I will lend him to you." Caleb tells him, and returns to his own bed. 

 

**V. Debt**

They are both lying in the dirt, staring up at the sky, the stars shining down on them. They were exhausted, another battle just barely survived, barely won. Fjord was bone tired, and Caleb, holding his side, had been too close to dying for Fjord's liking. He'd managed to shove a healing potion, a potion he'd been saving since departing Port Damali for an emergency, down Caleb's gullet. Caleb had gotten up, looked at Fjord with something like confusion mixed with thankfulness in his face, and then incinerated their enemy into a crisp. 

It was the first time Caleb had not gone catatonic after killing an enemy with fire. 

They were breathing in sync together now, shoulder to shoulder on the ground. 

"Thank you." Caleb whispers, after some time. His voice is still hoarse. "For saving my life." 

"You're welcome, Caleb." Fjord says, turning his head so he can look at the wizard at his side. 

Caleb's fingers are splayed apart, risen in the air, arm stretched as far as it can go, like he's reaching out for something in the distance, just a few inches away. There is soot on his cheek, dark and patchy against his pale skin. It softens his face and shadows his jawline. "I have made... many mistakes." His eyes are unfocused, trained on something far out of either of their reaches. Fjord wonders if he is thinking about his special someone, or if this is in reference to his nightmare of last night, when Fjord had held him down while he screamed and flailed in his sleep, because Fjord had been afraid that Caleb would hurt himself. "I am... not a good person." 

"I wouldn't say that, Caleb." Fjord refutes, still staring at him. He seems so far away and so close at the same time. Fjord's fingers twitch to reach out and touch. "You saved someone like me from a bunch of kids shoutin' slurs. You help me with my magic. You helped me with my nightmare." Fjord swallows, and then does reach out, fingers trailing across the soot, thumb swiping at the skin. Caleb breathes out, shakily, but doesn't move away from Fjord's touch. "A bad person wouldn't 'ave looked twice at someone like me." 

They lay in silence, Fjord pressing his fingertips to Caleb's cheek and Caleb's breathing filling the space between them, raspy from his near death experience and from the emotion in his throat. 

"Thank you...my friend" Caleb finally says, a little calmer, turning his head to look at Fjord. Fjord pulls his hand away from Caleb's face. 

"I'd do it again." Fjord tells him, honest, indebted, and truthful, and staring directly into Caleb's blue, blue eyes. 

 

**Vi. Beginning**

Fjord leans in the doorway, watching the shift of light playing across Caleb's face from where he is sitting at the window. He clears his throat, waiting for Caleb to notice him and turn his head in his direction. "Looks like there's some sorta circus in town." Fjord says, grinning. He pulls the flyer the purple tiefling had handed him and waves it in the air for Caleb to see. "You wanna check it out?" 

Caleb smiles a little, amusement in the set of his mouth. "A circus? Aren't we a bit old for that."

FJord shrugs. "Never too old for the circus, Caleb." A little quietly, he adds. "I've never actually been to a circus anyway." 

Caleb stares at him for a moment, face softening ever so slightly and then he stands, adjusting his scarf around his neck. "Alright, I am intrigued. When is it?"

Fjord's grin widens. "Tonight. But they have some pre-carnival activities we can participate in before then if we want." 

"Such as?" Caleb asks, as he joins Fjord in the doorway. 

Fjord inclines his head, teeth flashing just a bit. "Fortunes." 

Caleb huffs. "Fortunes?" 

"Yup. I don't put much stalk into it but I'm sure it'll be fun to try it out, yeah?" He nudges Caleb and then leads the way downstairs. Just as they are about to crest the landing he tugs gently on Caleb's sleeve, halting him. "Ah, forgot to mention. I may have invited some people to join us while we walk about..." 

Caleb looks at him sharply. "What?" He says, just as a blue tiefling leaps onto the bottom stair, her tail flicking and her smile as bright as the sun.

"Hello! My name is Jester and _wow_ do you smell! They have baths here you know." She pokes Caleb's chest. Caleb leans away from her, bewildered. A human with hair pinned back high comes into view, arms crossed and scowl in place. 

"Jester get out of the man's way, would yah?" 

"Oh! Sorry Beau!" Jester says and leaps off the stair so Fjord and Caleb can come down. Fjord can feel Caleb's eyes on him as they reach ground level. Fjord ignores him. 

"Beau." The human says, inclining her head. There is another person beside her, much much shorter wearing a porcelain mask. She hadn't said much when Fjord had met them but Fjord can just see a bit of green peeking out from under her hood. Beau pulls the hood further over the child's head. "This is Nott." She says, glaring at Fjord. 

"Nice ta meet you." Fjord says, nodding at Nott and then at Beau. Beau seems appeased and then looks over at Caleb, who is still frowning. Fjord nudges him not so subtly. 

"Caleb Widogast." Caleb says, terse. He glances at Fjord again, eyes narrowing even further and Fjord only graces him with an impish grin. 

Jester claps her hands together. "Are you ready to go to the carnival, Cayyyleb?" She asks, perked up and excited. 

" _Ja_ , I suppose." 

"We're going to have sooo much fun, right Beau? I mean, _fortune-telling_ , and cards!" Jester babbles and Beau nods her head and listens as they begin to lead the way out of the inn. Nott scurries behind them, keeping close, shooting Caleb and Fjord wary glances. Fjord begins to amble after them but Caleb stops him before he can, clutching his arm hard. 

"I am wondering why you thought it would be a good idea to invite these... people to join us." 

Fjord grins and pats Caleb's arm. "They seemed interestin'. 'Sides, I thought I could get you some more friends, Caleb." 

Caleb mutters something low to himself in Zemnian that Fjord cannot parse before he sighs and begins to stride after Jester, Beau and Nott.

"I am already regretting the one friend that I already have." He says, glaring at Fjord and Fjord only laughs at him. 


End file.
